U.S. House leader says State Department stonewalling on Keystone

WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives
Speaker John Boehner on Thursday accused the State Department of
stonewalling its review of the long-pending Keystone XL
pipeline, saying Secretary of State John Kerry must address the
issue to make the department's actions more transparent.

"The Democrats are dragging their feet," Boehner, the top
House Republican, told reporters, referring to the TransCanada
Corp's project to bring 830,000 barrels per day of
mostly Canadian oil sands petroleum to refineries and ports on
the Gulf Coast.

"Now the State Department is stonewalling and is refusing to
answer basic questions about its review. I'm calling on
Secretary Kerry to address this issue," Boehner said.

The State Department, which is assessing the project because
it crosses the national border, received comments from eight
federal agencies this week on whether the pipeline is in the
country's interest. The project has been pending for more than
six years.

One of the bureaus, the Environmental Protection Agency,
separately urged the State Department to consider whether low
crude prices mean the pipeline would play a bigger role in
developing Canada's oil sands and, as a consequence, raise
emissions linked to climate change.

President Barack Obama has said the project should not be
approved if it significantly raises the emissions.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Susan Heavey and Timothy Gardner;
Editing by Mohammad Zargham)